Bhubaneswar: A two-member fact-finding team of the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) on Thursday opined that development programmes are necessary for the socio-economic development of the people in Nagada village of Jajpur district.
The team, which visited the nondescript village in the mineral rich district of the State today, would submit its report to the Centre in the next few days.
“There are malnutrition related deaths of children in the area. There are no facilities on the hilltop and no road connectivity either. People have to walk long distances for every small need... What we observed is that development programmes have to be initiated in the area. We will submit our report to the government very soon,” said Rupak Choudhury, deputy secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
Two days back, a five-member team of Union Health Ministry visited the hilltop village to take stock of the situation. This team too had urged the State government to take up long-term social welfare programmes in the region.
Arun Singh, a member of the team, had said: “First of all, the State government has responded positively towards the problem in the region, which is clearly visible. There are some problems which are perennial to the whole country and some problems are acute. So I don’t think there will be a solution for everything in one capsule.”
Meanwhile, aiming to establish urban facilities in the area, the Odisha government has also decided to step up measures to bring changes in the livelihood of the Juang tribe.
“We have decided to impart training on bamboo craft to these Juang tribals so that they would learn to make various products and sell them in the market. Besides, they would be trained on animal husbandry, collection and sale of forest produce to make them self-reliant,” said AB Ota, Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC), central division, yesterday.
“All programmes like health care, education, connectivity, food security, light, drinking water currently underway in the village are short-term measures. To ensure that there would be no instance of malnourishment in the village in future, we are providing them with ration. As far as long-term measures are concerned, we have roped in the Odisha Livelihood Mission, which has started collecting data so that the income generation of these tribals could be sustained,” he said.